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Soak Those Seedlings Free

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Yep, you should have divided these basil seedlings ages ago… but it’s still not to late if you know what to do!

When you start your own seeds, you often find yourself in a situation where they become too crowded and start to become spindly due to a lack of space. Of course, the solution seems simple enough: just divide them and plant them up in individual pots or plant a larger container at a more adequate spacing.

Sometimes however, especially if you’ve let this go on a bit too long, the roots of the seedlings become so entangled that separating them without damaging the roots is not easy to do. What can you do in such a case?

Fortunately, here’s a trick that works without fail: soak the roots before you divide. Here’s how it works:

When you’ve swished off enough soil, the seedlings will be easy to pull apart. Photo: potagerdurable.com

Remove the clump of seedlings from their pot and place their rootball in a bowl of water. Now, swish the roots back and forth a bit and you’ll find the soil mix will slide right off. Swish them a bit more until there is little soil left. Now pull delicately on a seedling and you’ll see that it will separate from its companions like magic.

All you have left to do is to repot it and its brethren into their new pots using fresh potting mix!